A high-level expert group released on Wednesday (31 January) a report to help guide the European Commission in its quest to make the EU's economy sustainable. One of the members of the group explained some of the detail in an interview with EURACTIV.com.

Compared to the national governments of the member states, the European Union is ahead of the curve when it comes to transparency, former Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner told EURACTIV in an interview. But improvements are still badly needed. Danuta...

What can answer the challenges posed by the financial crisis, Brexit and Donald Trump? Head of the Raiffeisen Society Werner Böhnke told EURACTIV's partner WirtschaftsWoche that the solution could be provided by cooperatives.

EXCLUSIVE / Back in 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker prioritised transparency as a crucial point of his Commission's mandate. EURACTIV Germany spoke with Sven Giegold about the future of transparency in the institutions.

The lead MEP on a European Parliament transparency report has said that he was lobbied “all the time” during secret negotiations over EU law, and had better access to classified documents just because he is German. Sven Giegold exclusively told EURACTIV he wouldn’t care if “trialogue” discussions were livestreamed and branded a European Commission push for better regulation an attack on parliamentary democracy.

The United States’ resistance to greater transparency in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks, poses a problem to a European Commission that must answer demands for more openness from civil society if it is to seal the trade deal, the European Ombudsman has told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.

With the European Commission and Parliament leading a joint committee to scrutinise the EU’s lobbyist transparency register, NGOs are keeping a close eye on the developments. The Parliament's credibility is at risk if the register is not made mandatory, argues Paul de Clerck.

The European Transparency Register, the EU's database for lobbyists, is currently under scrutiny as it set to be reformed by the end of 2013. Above all, the register needs more resources and to get rid of its loopholes, if Brussels wants a fair public affairs level playing field, Karl Isaksson says.

The European Commission's proposals to give citizens the right to open a bank account are admirable, according to the European Banking Federation’s Eric Leenders, but there needs to be a clear distinction between opening accounts for economic migrants and opening accounts for social inclusion. He tells EURACTIV that bank accounts for social inclusion purposes should be left within the determination of the member states.

Pirate parties in EU countries are expected to grow, because they address issues of high importance in the modern society that is based on digital information, Christian Engström, Swedish Pirate MEP, told EURACTIV Germany in an exclusive interview.

The common perception in Central and East European countries that lobbying is no more than "corruption in sophisticated disguise" explains why calls to ban lobbying can be heard every now and then, argues Agnieszka Cianciara, an expert on lobbying and senior teaching assistant at the College of Europe.

Decision-making under the EU's reformed comitology system represents a 'black box' in EU transparency, prominent consultant Daniel Guégen told EURACTIV Czech Republic in an interview, asserting that power in Brussels "is shifting from the political level to the bureaucratic level".